Concrete floor construction.



E. F. cmuwz. CONCRETE F.LO0R CONSTRUCTION. APPLICATION FILED APR. 11, I913. 1 1,160,384. Patented Nov. 16, 1915.

2 SHEETSSHEET l- INVENTOR Ms ATTORNEY E F. CRANE. CONCRETE FLOOR CONSTRUCTION.

1,160,384. m m Patented Nov. 16,1915.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

l VI 5 2 iii wnrmssss EDWARD F. CRANE, F NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO H. A. CRANE & 330., INC., 013 JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW ERSEY.

CONCRETE FLOOR CONSTRUCTION.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 16, 1915.

Application filed April 11, 1913. Serial No. 760,371.

To all whom it may concern 1 Be it known that I, EDWARD F. CRANE, citizen of the United States, and resident of Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Concrete Floor Construction, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in floor construction, and more particularly to hollow floor construction comprising reinforced concrete and hollow forms distributed in spaced relationship within the floor. In a prior application filed by me January 9, 1911, Serial No. 601,558, there is illustrated one type of such hollow floor construction in which the forms are hollow blocks made in part of metal and in part of non-metallic elements, the construction there illustrated being designed as to substitute for and improvement upon the old type of hollow concrete floor construction having terra-cotta or similar tiles or blocks distributed throughout the body of the concrete flooring. In both of the types of floor construction justreferred to the forms, tiles or blocks are arranged on a flooring of false work in proper relation with one another with metallic reinforcing rods in position between the rows, the floor being formed by pouring concrete in the usual manner among and around the forms, rods, etc, to fill all the intervening space and form a net-work of intersecting beams or girders joined by the concrete to form a unitary reinforced concrete floor construction. In another application filed by me July 17, 1912, Serial No. 708,947, I have illustrated an improved floor construction in which tiles or blocks formed wholly or in part of terra-cotta or,

upon those just described, and particularly upon the invention described in the second of said cases. One of its essential elements is the provision of forms for making hollow spaces in the finished flooring, but these forms differ in many respects from those of said prior application, and are combined with other elements of the floor construction in a different manner. In this case the hollow forms used are mounted on supporting means constructed as elements separate and distinct from the forms themselves, there being preferably a large number of supporting devices, each adapted to cotiperate with a plurality of forms. The supporting means is intended to rest upon false-work, but the hollow forms themselves will be elevated above the supporting surface of the false-work, and before the forms are placed in position the concrete may be poured to form a continuous layer of concrete of the proper thickness at the under side of the floor construction, after which the forms will be placed in position on the supporting means and the remainder of the concrete poured. I The supporting means employed may be of any suitable type, but will preferably consist of a plurality of skeleton devices, each having pointed feet adapted to rest upon the false-work in order that the under side of the concrete when poured and set may present a finished ceiling surface unmarred by projecting metallic elements of the floor. The supporting devices employed in the present case are substantially 'H-shaped skeleton supports or chairs, each adapted to receive and position one corner of the bottom edge of each of four hollow forms; and each supporting device is also preferably so constructed'as to support one or more reinforcing elements -or bars of a rnetallic re nforcing layer. In

general the construction 'is'such that thehollow forms are mounted on and located sidewise by supporting means by which the forms are elevated above, the surface of the false-work on which the concrete reinforced fiooi'ing is .to be formed, and a'reinforci'ng layer is mechanically supp ort'ed jin such"a position above said 1e e1 rj u1efalse-work that when-the concreteis 'alljpoured and the floor finished the reinforcing l'z1 ei- \iiillbe firmly embedded "in the "c'o nc'rete ahd fia t level considerably-above th, of the finished ceiling sari-nee.

Other features of my invention not hereinbefore referred to will be hereinafterdescribed and claimed and-are illustrated inthe accompanying drawings. in which.

Figure 1 is a plan of agroup of hollow forms mounted upon suitable supporting means constructed in accordance with my invention, and also combined with a metallic reinforcing layer mechanically sustained by said supporting means, and illustrates the manner in which these parts are assembled on false-work before concrete is poured over devices, and Fig. 4 is an enlarged transverse section, similar to Fig. 2, of a portion of said floor construction showing the relation of the parts after the first layer of concrete has been poured and before the pouring of the remainder of the concrete used in the floor construction.

Similar characters designate like parts in all the figures of the drawings.

As in the second of my aforesaid prior applications, the present floor construction is one in which hollow forms are completely inclosed in poured concrete. The forms employed for the purpose are in their main features preferably similar to those described in the aforesaid application Usually each form will be made of sheet metal, for convenience and cheapness of construction, shipment, handling, etc, the construction illustrated being one in which the forms taper slightly in such a manner that a large number of them maybe nested for shipment so as to occupy but a small space. Each should of course be of sufficientstrength to withstand the pressure of wet or green concrete during pouring, and each also preferably should be strong enough to constitute in and of itself a reinforcing or stiffening medium in a finished floor. As here shown, each form is a hollow, tapering, box-like element of sheet metal, designated "generally by I), having a dome-shaped top, a, and sides that are preferably corrugated or fluted, as shown at (Z, in order to increase the resistance opposed by the side walls to loads borne by the finished flooring, and in order also to prevent movement of the forms in the concrete when the latter has set. Each form is a hollow box substantially rectangular in horizontal section, closed at the top but entirely open at the bottom and preferably formed up'from a single sheet of metal.

)ne of the principal features that distingulsh the present invention from the construction of my aforesaid prior application disclosing the use of metallic forms is the provision of separate supporting means for elevating each form Z) above the .level of false-work, such as f, on which the rein-- forced floor is to be formed. This separate supporting means is so constructed as to permit a layer of concrete to be poured before the forms are laid, after which the forms may be-placed in position and the remainder ofthe concrete poured to obtain a floor construction in which, when the flooring is finished andthe concrete has set, a relatively thick layer of concrete lies below each form and is connected or integral with the superimposed concrete of the floor construction to constitute a unitary floor presenting notonly finished faces of poured concrete throughout its whole external surface, but also relatively thick walls of concrete at every point in its external surface. The specific supporting means employed herein is notonly separate from the forms themselves but is so constructed that each element of it is skeleton support 3 is a substantially H- shaped' mem'ber'or chair. made up in this case of two substantially U-shaped sheetmetal elements secured together, as by rivets 3. The sides and cross-piece of each supportare thus formed by simply stamp- 4 ing out and properly bending up sheet-metal elements, which are then connected together. The legs 2 are eachbent substantially into the vertical plane of the diagonal of a soiuare, in order to coiiperate better with the .hollow forms they are intended to receive and support. At the upper side thereof each of these legs is shown as having a stamped-out portion or opening. designated generally by 4, the bottom wall 5. of which constitutesthe immediate supporting surface for a form. The length of each of these openings 4 is such as to permit the supporting devices and the forms to be readilv assembled over the whole surface of the false-work. in the manner shown particularly in Figs. 1 and 3, without binding of the parts, a slight allowance of this sort having been found desirable in practice in order to prevent delay in the assemblmg of 1 false-work in rows with the separate sup elements that may not always exactly fit.

It will be noticed that each leg 2 has an upward extension, indicated at 2, which is adapted to enter an adjacent corner of a form 6 and locate the same in. place. This extension is at the upper end of that portion of the leg 2 which is bent into line with the diagonal of a square (the square of the form) as before described.

The manner in which the forms and their supporting devices are combined, it is believed, will be obvious from the drawings. The supporting elements 8 are laid upon the porting devices spaced substantially at the desired distances apart, and after the first layer of concrete has been poured the forms b are laid on said supporting devices, each corner of a single supportlng devlce serving to support one corner of each of four different forms, or, stated in other words, each corner of each form is carried by legs of four different supporting devices. when in place the lower edge of each box-like form will rest at one corner upon a supporting 1 surface 5 of an element 8, and each form will be elevated above the false-work a distance corresponding to the height of the surface 5 above said false-work. It will be noted that when the forms are seated on the supports, each individual'support will cooperate with four adjacent corners of four separate forms. For this reason, the form seats are arranged in quadrangular relation when the type of form illustrated in the drawings is employed.

The parts just described are suflicient for the purpose of forming with concrete. when the concrete is poured to the proper level, a floor construction having hollow domeshaped spaces substantially throughout the body thereof. .In addition, however. suitable provision is usually and preferably made for reinforcing this construction. In order to provide for such reinforcement, the supporting means before desel'ibed will preferablybe so constructed as to sustain a reinforcing layer made up, for example, of reinforcing bars or rods. In the construction illustrated two crossing sets of metal reinforcing bars. each made up of parallel ele ments. are illustrated as mounted on, or supported by, the elements a. llere each of these elements is cut out. as shown ati. to form a supporting groove or seat in which a reinforcingbar of one set may be located. as will be obvious by referring pzll'llit'l'llnl'ly to Figs. 3 and -l-. The bars of this set. indieated at T. lie in the spat-es between the rows of forms 7) and resting directly upon the supporting elements 8 are ])t.l'lll:tl1tllli sustained by thtalrat the desirel level above the pointed ends of the legs '2. The bars oi the other tl are indicated at 3 and lie in the other spaces between the forms I), being shown as resting on top of the bars or rods 7 and-tied thereto, as by tie-wires 9. To ascross-bar of each supporting device 3 may have a central nick, such as 10, in the under side thereof throughwhich the tie-wires 9 may pass. The net-work of crossing bars thus formed is at such an elevation above the level of the false-work as to permit the use of a reinforcing layer of sheet metal, such as the usual. wire netting 11, in addition to the reinforcing bars or rods. As shown in Fig. 4, this wire netting will usually lie close up against the under sides of the main portions of the side pieces and cross-bars of the elements .9, being connected the eto in any suitable manner, as, for example, by be.

ing tied at suitable intervals to said supporting devices by tie-wires 11.

When the metallic 'parts are in the p osi tions just described, it will be'evident that the forms, their supports, are all of the reinforcing elements are positively located in the desired relation to the false-work, and,

that the reinforcing rods and netting are held'i fixed, and permanent mechanical relation, which relation is determined before the pouring of the concrete. \Vhen so combined the desired reinforcement may be obtained in any given horizontal plane (within sure thecentral location of each rod 8 the limits) above the level of the false-work, that 2 is, above the level of what is to be thefinished ceiling surface. I v

In forming concrete reinforced flooring of the kind shown and described herein. the

Wire netting is first unrolled and spread outon the upper surface of the false-work 7". Then the supports or chairs a, properly spaced, may be placed in position in rows and on them are laid the crossing bars of the main reinforcing layer. These bars are secured in position, as by tie-wires. in the if so desired. be locked in eoilneetion with them by bending the lower edges of the. forms at the corners thereof into under-cut notehes 15 in the vertical arms or extensions 2' of the supports, as indicated b dotted lines in Fig. r. lo the' event of the concrete being poured to a depth above the openings r in the supports prior to the piaeing in position of the forms. the upward extensions :2 of the supports serve as a means toiyn-rlnit of the ready positioning. of the forms in prop r relation with said su 'iport sg After the 'lfin'ms have been. placed in position as (leseriliedlhe iloor is then finished b \'-]'Hurinf theremainder of the eonerete soas to cot er the-reinforcing means and fill all the spaces around the metallic elements and between the forms upto the desired level, indicated in Fig. 2. When the floor is finished and the concrete has hardened, the floor construcstituting seats inwhich the lower edges of separateforms are adapted to engage, said supporting means being provided with extensions adjacent the recesses adapted to project upwardly into the interiorv of said forms, and each of said extensions being provided with a recess into which the lower edge of the form may be bent to lock the form in place.

2. A skeleton form supporting device for hollow floor construction, comprising a substantially H-shaped frame and a plurality of supporting legs depending below the plane of the under side thereof to support the same in elevated position, said H-shaped frame having a plurality of form supporting surfaces arranged at the extremities thereof.

3. A skeleton form supporting device for hollow floor construction involving the use of hollow forms,-comprising a body portion,

a plurality of supporting legs depending below the plane of the under side thereof to support the same in elevated position," said body portion having a plurality of form Witnesses supporting seats arranged in quadrangular relation and provided adjacent said form supporting seats with projections entering the hollow forms at the corners thereof to limit sidewise movement of the forms.

4. A form supporting device for hollow floor construction comprising two substan-- tially U-shaped" strips of sheet metal united to form a substantially H-shaped frame, said H-shaped frame having form seats at the ex-- tremities thereof, each adapted tosupport a portion of a form.

5. A form supporting device for hollow. floor construction comprising two substan-' tially U-shaped strips of sheet metal united to form a substantially H-shaped-fr'ame, and

means to support said frame so thatthe.

6. A for m supporting device for hollow Y floor construction comprising a skeleton arms thereof will lie in a horizontal plane.

frame having four upwardly projecting portions arranged in quadrangular relation and four downwardly projecting portions sub stantia'lly in line with said upwardly pr'ojeoting portions and serving as legs to support the frame in elevated position, and a form seat located adjacent each'upward extension. j

v 7. In a hollow. floor construction, the combination'with a form support provided with four form seats arranged in. quadrangular -re1ation, of-four separate forms, each of the EDWARD F. CRANE.

MARCEL MULET,

K; M. CAssmY.

Oples at this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the commissioner of Patents,

' I Washington, D. O. v 

